


have you seen my friends?

by encapsulated



Category: Finding Nemo (2003), Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, Humor, fish are friends not food, my first complete fic in many years
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-10-02 17:50:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20343634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/encapsulated/pseuds/encapsulated
Summary: Sora, Donald and Goofy crash-land off the coast of Australia and must find a way to reunite with each other. On the way, they gain some new friends, a newfound appreciation for opposable thumbs, and a deep abiding hatred of the ocean.





	have you seen my friends?

**Author's Note:**

> Heya! Thank you for taking the time to check out this fic. I've been trying to climb back on the creative writing train and this is the result. I'd like to make a note that I know very little about fish and I haven't watched Finding Nemo in years, so some details may be inaccurate. With that said, please enjoy.

“Hello? Anybody out there?”

Normally, Sora loved the ocean. He was an islander; the ocean was as much his home as the house he grew up in. Sure, the ocean could be dangerous, but any island kid worth their salt knew how to navigate the open water safely.

“Donald?”

Ah, how he missed those carefree days of running around the beach in a jumpsuit, heavy gloves and enormous close-toed clown shoes. On a tropical island where the weather ranged from ‘hot and humid’ to ‘literally boiling alive’. Younger Sora had clearly not been thinking straight when choosing his wardrobe.

“Goofy?”

It was kind of hard to appreciate the ocean after a Gummi Ship malfunction had forcibly launched you and your friends in all directions though. Especially when you woke up missing all your clothes, limbs and equipment.

“Guuuuuuyyyyyyss? Anyone?”

He’d woken up in the water, floating like a ragdoll. After the initial panic of waking up in a strange place, he’d quickly realised that he’d transformed into a fish. An angelfish, to be precise.

“Oh _geez_,” Sora had groaned upon discovering his tiny new fins. “How am I supposed to use a Keyblade like _this_?” Protecting the world order, his left buttcheek. The next time they arrived on a world requiring a form change, he was going to make Donald give him a form with opposable thumbs. If the inhabitants of the world didn’t normally have thumbs, then they could just freaking _deal with it_.

At least there hadn’t been any Heartless or Nobodies nearby. Sora had summoned his Keyblade, only to find that it’d been the size of a toothpick. He seriously doubted that he could do much damage like this, unless his opponents were the size of a flea. He’d also quickly discovered that his earlier fears had been correct: his fins had no way of holding onto the Keyblade. At least, not very well, considering that they were stuck on the sides of his body. Holding it in his mouth like he’d done in the Pride Lands had sorta worked, but he wasn’t as maneuverable in a fish body as he was in a lion’s body.

Magic had similarly been useless. Blizzard had only rendered a brief flash of cold and a few ice shards that quickly melted away. Fire had resulted in a small puff of flame that had quickly extinguished itself. He hadn’t dared try Thunder.

So, faced with an inevitable and gruesome death in the event of a fight, Sora had decided to find his friends ASAP. With any luck, they’d achieved forms with actual utility!

Which brought him to his current situation: swimming through an endless stretch of ocean in a futile attempt to find two needles in the proverbial haystack. He quickly quashed a sense of despair. Welp, nothing to it but to keep on swimming, swimming, swimming…

&&&

“Hey, have you seen my friends?”

Frank the crab hurriedly ducked out of sight, hoping that the angelfish would take a hint and vamoose. Honestly, what kind of moron swam around the ocean drawing attention to themselves like that? If you wanted to survive in this part of the ocean, you kept your eyes down and your claws at the ready. You _did not _swim around asking random strangers for help!

A bright blue eye peered into Frank’s hiding spot. “Hello? I can see you in there, you know.”

“Scram, kid,” Frank growled. “I haven’t seen your friends, so bug off before I pinch ya!”

“Are you sure? You’re the first living being I’ve seen in ages—you must’ve seen something!”

“The only thing that I’ve seen all day is your dumb mug!” The crab snapped his claws menacingly. “And I’m sick of lookin’ at it, get my drift?”

The eye glared at Frank. “Sheesh, fine! Excuse me for asking a simple question!” The angelfish disappeared from view.

Hmph, good riddance. Now, to get back to what he’d been doing—

_“Hello there, tasty morsel.” _

Frank froze at the sound of the voice. Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no. _This _was why you didn’t want attention drawn to yourself in these waters. He slowly turned around to meet a bulbous eye, gleaming with hunger.

“Any last words before I eat you?” A tentacle eased into Frank’s hiding place, gently caressing his carapace.

“Oh _barnacles_,” cursed Frank. 

&&&

“Hi, I’m looking for my frien—okay, bye!”

The school of sardines zipped away into the distance. Sora scowled. Was it too much to ask for someone to stay still for long enough for him to ask a question? Why was everyone in such a blasted hurry?

Also, what was with all these rude sea creatures? That crab from earlier had been seriously crabby (heh), as had the eel he’d met just a few minutes earlier. Getting a straight answer out of anyone in this world was proving to be a real chore.

“Oh, hey, excuse me I’m looking for—never mind then!” Sora’s fins drooped as another fish swam by without so much as a word. Gosh, this was dispiriting. At this rate, he was never going to find his friends.

“Hiya!”

“Eep?!” Sora squeaked in surprise, whirling around. A blue regal tang beamed at him, apparently unconcerned that she had just scared the living daylights out of him. A harried-looking clownfish sighed in exasperation next to her.

“Dory, what did I say about sneaking up on people like that?” The clownfish admonished.

The blue tang’s forehead wrinkled in thought. “Uhh, make sure they’ve gone poop beforehand?”

“_No_, Dory.” The clownfish pressed a fin to his forehead as if to ward off an impending headache. Could fish even get headaches? “’Don’t sneak up on people’, that’s what I said.”

“Oh yeah, right, yeah yeah yeah!” Dory nodded enthusiastically. “I totally remember now!”

The clownfish gave Dory a skeptical look. “Okay, then repeat what I just said.”

The blue tang stared blankly at him. “You said something?”

“Never mind.” Ignoring Dory, who was now trying to recall the conversation that she’d just had a second ago, the clownfish turned to Sora. “Sorry about her. She can be a bit…forgetful sometimes—“

“—I have short-term memory loss!” Dory interrupted cheerfully.

“Yes, that. Anyways, we heard you asking the other fish for your friends. Are you lost?”

Sora nodded as best he could without a neck. “Yeah, me and my friends got separated. I’ve been looking everywhere for them, but everything looks the same in the ocean and no one will even talk to me.” For all he knew, he’d spent the last few hours swimming in circles. It was hard to navigate without landmarks.

Dory gasped, fins to her cheeks. “You poor thing!” She hugged Sora, squishing him into her side. “Don’t worry, me an’ Marlin are looking for someone too! His son, uh…Brando? Gordo? No wait I got it—Lazlo!”

“Nemo,” retorted Marlin.

“Right, Nemo! We can help you look for your friends while we search for Milo—“

“_Ahem_, Dory? Could I speak to you for a moment?” Not waiting for a response, Marlin dragged Dory away from Sora and floating off a few feet. Sora watched as they engaged in a heated whispered discussion, with plenty of agitated gesturing from Marlin. Dory nodded and gave frequent noises of agreement, although it was clear that she wasn’t paying attention to Marlin at all.

“—can’t waste time looking for his friends _and _Nemo—“

“—uh-huh—“

“—know if we can trust him—“

“—mm-hm—“

Gosh, that reminded him of Donald and Goofy. It wasn’t uncommon for Donald to vent his frustrations at his calmer friend, who would nod and patiently listen to the mage until he wore himself out. When questioned about the topic of a particular rant, Goofy would simply shrug and admit that he hadn’t really been listening. Sora hoped that they were okay, wherever they were.

“—but he’s just a kid…all alone in the ocean—“

“—yup, all by himself—“

“—could be _eaten_—“

“—only be a mouthful—“

“—or _worse_—“

“—used as a lab fish by scientists—“

“…okay, fine. You’ve convinced me.” Finally, the two fish broke their mostly one-sided conference and swam back to Sora.

“Good news! We’re going to help you find your friends while we’re looking for Pablo—“

“—_Nemo_—“

“—Nemo!” Dory announced, looking very pleased with herself. “Since we’re heading in the same direction and all.”

“If you help me find my son, then we’ll help you find your friends. Assuming that they’re even in the same place.” Marlin held out a fin. “What do you say?” 

Sora brightened, awkwardly grabbing Marlin’s fin and shaking eagerly. “Yes! Thank you! I’m sure that we’ll find all of them in no time flat if we all work together! I’m Sora, by the way. Nice to meetcha! ”

Marlin painfully extracted his fin, examining it for damage. For such a small fish, Sora had a grip like a vice.

“Well, what’re we waiting for? Let’s go!” Dory began swimming away. Sora and Marlin quickly followed after her. “Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming…”

“Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming!” Sora joined in, just a beat behind Dory.

Marlin sighed. “Oh no, now they’re both doing it.”

Dory abruptly halted. She touched her mouth thoughtfully.

“What is it? Did you see something?” Marlin followed Dory’s gaze. “Dory?”

The blue tang tapped her ‘chin’. “Um, hey, where are we going again?”

Marlin groaned.

&&&

Elsewhere in the deep briny blue, Goofy marveled at his newfound field of vision. He could see everything above and around him, not to mention that he could move both eyes independently. Being a flounder was great! Donald, on the other hand, was not having such a fun time. He kept getting angry, poofing up and drifting away in the current.

_‘No more aquatic animals,_’ the mage swore to himself. Next time, he was making sure that he had a form with arms and legs! And didn’t inflate like a prickly balloon every time he got a bit annoyed!

Goofy buried himself into the sand, happy as a clam.

&&&

“Bruce, no! Get yourself together, mate!”

“Sorry about this! He’s normally a stand-up guy!”

Sora, Marlin and Dory huddled together as the great white repeatedly slammed his bulk into the sunken submarine. The other two sharks frantically tried to talk their friend down, to no avail.

“What do we do?! He’s going to eat us!” Marlin clung onto the scuba mask for dear life. The clownfish looked about five seconds from passing out. “I knew that this was a bad idea!”

“P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney. P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney,” Dory repeated to herself, intently staring at the writing on the scuba mask. “P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney. P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney!”

“Now is not the time for that!”

“I have to make sure I remember it!”

“I’ll draw him off while you guys go on ahead,” Sora declared, swimming away from the relative safety of the nook they’d hidden within. 

Marlin squawked in alarm. “What? No! You can’t do that! You’ll get eaten alive!”

“Don’t worry about me. I’m smaller and faster than them; they’ll never catch me,” Sora reassured Marlin, grinning cockily. “I’ve never lost a race in my life and I’m not gonna start no—“

“Brucie, pal, what’s wrong? What’re you—aaaagggh!”

“Chum! Oh no, what’ve you done, Bruce?! Wait, don’t come any closer!”

The three small fish watched in horror as the sharks outside were engulfed in darkness. The malevolent energy spread from Bruce to his two companions, absorbing them into the main fount of flickering shadows. The darkness flickered, then dispersed to reveal a positively _massive _shark-like Heartless. To Sora’s fishy eyes, it resembled a megalodon with far too many teeth and lambent yellow eyes glaring balefully from within sunken eye sockets. It roared, sending a shockwave through the surrounding waters.

Marlin’s eyes were practically popping out of his skull, his entire body quivering in fear. “Wha-wha-wha-what the heck is that?!”

“Ooh, that’s a big’un,” Dory commented, looking mightily unfazed by the monstrous _thing _that was now trying doubly hard to destroy their hidey-hole.

“You guys stay here! I’ve got this!” Sora darted out of his hiding spot, summoning his Keyblade. The Keyblade that was currently the size of a toothpick. _Hoo boy._

“Hey! Big, dumb and ugly! Over here!” The angelfish taunted, flourishing his Keyblade. He scurried around the Heartless, hoping to lure it away.

The shark Heartless loomed over him, mouth opening to reveal a cavernous maw lined with very large, very pointy teeth. It threw itself at Sora, who barely managed to twist out of the way. He slashed at the Heartless with his tiny Keyblade, only to bounce right off its thick hide.

“Aw, _fish sticks_,” Sora cursed.

“Sora!” Marlin called, voice cracking from fear.

“Sora!” Dory cheered, sounding considerably more chipper.

“Don’t move!” Sora adjusted his grip on his Keyblade in his mouth.

“Oh, I can’t watch…” Marlin moaned, covering his eyes.

Sora launched himself at the Heartless, gritting out a muffled war-cry.

“Fish are friends, NOT FOOOOOOOOOD!”

&&&

“…and that was how I fought my way out of a giant shark monster,” narrated Sora. “It got kinda nasty when I got to the sphincter, but it worked out in the end.”

“Whoa, that’s gnarly as heck, lil’ dude,” Crush, the totally righteous sea turtle, drawled. “Right out the sphincter, huh?” His surfer dude speech pattern vaguely resembled Xigbar’s, but was much more exaggerated. The Nobody had never used the terms ‘gnarly’ or ‘bodacious’ as far as Sora remembered, which was good since he had a hard enough time taking Xigbar seriously to begin with.

“Could we not talk about sphincters please?” Marlin looked mildly green around the gills. Whether it was because of their close call with the shark Heartless or their encounter with the jellyfish was anyone’s guess. The bumpy ride along the East Australian Current was probably also a contributor.

“Hehe, sphincter is a funny word,” chortled Dory. She held onto the shell of her ride, apparently having gotten over her near-death experience in the jellyfish chasm. The blue tang had hit it off immediately with the little turtles, especially Crush’s son Squirt.

“What’s a sphincter?” Squirt asked, swooping around his father’s shell onto Sora’s other side. “Can you eat it?”

“It’s a ring of muscle that keeps stuff from getting in or out of places in your body, like in the place where you poo—“

“That’s enough, thank you! How about we talk about something else?” Marlin quickly interjected. “Sora, you never told us what your friends looked like. It’d help if we knew what we were looking for.”

Sora hummed, trying and failing to scratch his head in thought. Stupid baby fins. “I’m actually not sure. I don’t know what they look like on this wor—I mean, uh, one’s tall and super easygoing and the other one’s short and gets mad easily.”

“That’s…not much of a description,” Merlin said. What had Sora been about to say before he cut himself off? “What kind of fish are they? Any distinguishing features? How likely are they to try to eat us?”

“Sorry, that’s all I got. I’ll know when I see them, don’t worry. They definitely won’t eat us though, don’t worry.” Sora shrugged helplessly. Or tried to shrug, anyways. Curse this body! He missed Atlantica and his access to opposable thumbs and functioning scalpulae sorely.

“No worries, bruh,” Crush said, sounding as relaxed as always. “Your heart knows. It’ll guide you to yer friends, no problemo. Same goes for your son, Marly-dude.”

Marlin frowned, grip tightening on Crush’s shell. “How do you know? What if I never find him?” He breathed shakily. “What if—what if I lose him too?”

“Hey, don’t talk like that,” Dory mildly scolded. “Everything will be fine! You just have to believe in yourself and Fabio—“

“—Nemo—“ 

“—Nemo. He’s stronger than you think, y’know. He’ll be okay, don’t you worry.” Marlin stared incredulously at Dory. The blue tang simply smiled.

“How can you know that? You’ve never even met him!” Dory had never seen Nemo’s malformed fin, nor had she seen how small and defenseless he was.

“I’ve met you, haven’t I? You’re a tough fish, Marlin. Why wouldn’t Nemo be strong if he has an incredible dad like you?” Dory replied.

Marlin stared, stunned. Tough, him?

“Yeah! You’ve risked life and death to find him, even though you were scared,” agreed Sora. “You never gave up, even when you almost got eaten and zapped by jellyfish. Heck, you helped get me out of the shark Heartless’ buttho—“

“_Change of topic!” _If fish could blush, Marlin would resemble a tomato more than a clownfish. “I—thanks. For sticking by me. I couldn’t have gotten this far without your help.”

“Happy to help!” Dory gave the fish equivalent of a thumbs-up. “What were we talking about again?”

“Hey guys, I think I see something!” Sora pointed. The flowing tunnel that they’d been riding seemed to be ending.

“Hang tight, dudes. Last one out is a rotten egg!” Crush accelerated, flattening Marlin to his shell. Dory and Sora shouted in excitement as their rides sped to catch up.

&&&

Meanwhile, Donald and Goofy were making no progress in their search for Sora.

“Gee whiz, I sure wish we had a map or somethin’. This place is confusin’!” Then again, Goofy doubted that a map would really help. For one, the paper would get soggy real quick.

“I _told_ you we should’ve turned left at the rock back there,” Donald grumbled. He was just as lost as his friend, but refused to admit it. A nearby fish got the hairy eyeball from the mage. It glared back.

“Yer prob’ly right, Donald,” Goofy agreed easily. His eyes swept the horizon, searching for any clues. A cluster of rapidly-approaching specks caught his attention. “Hey, what’s that over there?”

Donald broke eye contact with the fish that he’d been having a staring contest with. “What’s what over where?”

“Those things over yonder. Gwarsh, there’s a lot of ‘em.” The specks became fish with nasty-looking spikes and gleaming yellow eyes. They gnashed their teeth, swimming faster now that they’d spotted prey.

“ACK! Those are Heartless!” Donald quacked.

“Hyuck, they sure are! Think we should run?” Goofy concurred, completely unfazed by the horde of killer monster-fish rapidly approaching them.

“Yes! RUN! I mean, swim! Whatever!”

“Lookit that one, Donald! It kinda looks like Master Yen Sid—“

“JUST SWIM YOU DOOFUS!”

&&&

“Hey Dory?”

“Yes, Dora?”

“It’s Sora. Could you teach me to speak whale?”

“Wow Angora, I’d love to be able to speak whale!”

“_Sora.”_

“Sorta!”

“…Close enough.”

“What were we talking about again?”

“I want to learn how to speak whale!”

“Me too! Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

“You already speak whale.”

“I do?”

“You just did, like, a second ago!”

“I did?!”

“…”

“Give it up, Sora. She doesn’t remember.”

“I have short-term memory loss!”

“We know, Dory, we know.”

&&&

“MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE!!”

Sydney Harbour teemed with seagulls, all screaming at the top of their lungs. Anyone unfortunate enough to be caught in the open with food was immediately mobbed. It reminded Goofy of the tournaments that King Mickey used to hold in Disney Castle. Tournaments meant hungry attendees, which meant food stalls, which meant swarms of opportunistic wildlife ready to swoop in at a moments notice. Yes, he was very much including Pete in that category. Ol’ Pete liked nothin’ more than some good grub and he wasn’t exactly picky how he got it.

“Sorry, can you speak up? Can’t hear a blasted thing over all this yappin’.” Nigel gestured to his earhole with a wing.

“I _said_, have you seen our friend?” Donald repeated, almost shouting. He floated in the water of the harbour, bobbing up and down. Goofy hovered next to him, watching as the seagulls fell upon a tourist with a waffle cone.

“MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE!”

“Geroff ya mangy vermin!”

“_What?_” Nigel cupped his wings around his head, hoping to funnel the sound of Donald’s voice into his ears.

“Mmmmmrggghh!” The mage vibrated, inflating with annoyance. “I SAID—“

“Wait, hold that thought!” Nigel suddenly leapt up into the air. A scruffy-looking pelican appeared to be doing an interpretive dance in the distance. That, or he was slowly choking to death. “Gerald, you blinking knob! I told you not to try eating that!”

“Well phooey!” Donald slowly deflated. “Now what?”

“Dunno. Guess we should find someone else to ask.”

They watched with mild interest as Nigel gave Gerald a stiff whack on the back with a wing, causing Gerald to hack up about a litre of seawater and a burnt, gelatinous square. Goofy and Donald exchanged a look.

“Is that…?”

“I think it is!”

Nigel smacked Gerald again for good measure before kicking the Gummi Block into the water.

“Ack! That’s ours!” Donald sped off toward the mangled Gummi Block. A seagull tried to land on the Block, only to get a Blizzard to the head for its trouble. “Back off!”

“Gwarsh, Donald, wait for me!”

&&&

“Nemo’s gone. We were too late.” Marlin slumped, eyes dull.

“Marlin—“

“Just go, Sora. Leave me alone.” Sora watched helplessly as Marlin swam away. He looked back at Dory, then back at Marlin’s retreating back. Sora’s heart ached for his friend.

No, it couldn’t be. Nemo couldn’t be dead. After all they’d been through, it couldn’t end like this. Coming to a decision, Sora followed Dory.

“P. Sherman—what was it again? P. Sherbert twenty-thr—no, that wasn’t it,” the blue tang muttered to herself. “P, D, E, G, now I know my ABC’s…”

“Dory? You okay?” Sora asked, concerned.

“Hm? Oh hi! I’m Dory. Have we met?” She blinked guilelessly at the angelfish.

“It’s me, Sora! We’re friends, remember?” Sora searched desperately for any sign of recognition in Dory’s face. She looked at him as if they hadn’t just spent several days traveling together.

“Friends? I have friends?” Dory immediately perked up. “Really?!”

“Yes, really! You have short-term memory loss and you can speak whale—“

“I can?!”

“—and you’re nice and optimistic and we were looking for my friends and Marlin’s son Nemo—“

“Wait, say that again?” Images flashed through Dory’s mind. What was it, what was it? It was _important_. C’mon, Dory, think!

“We’re looking for my friends and Nemo?” Sora repeated. “There was a scuba mask with an address. It said something about Sydney—“

“P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney!” Elated, Dory swooped around, pointing at all the things that she could now identify. “You’re Sora, I’m Dory, and we’re going to P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way Sydney to find Nemo! Hi Nemo!”

“What?” Sora turned to see a small clownfish with a bemused expression on his face. The little clownfish’s shrunken fin drew his attention. “It’s you! You’re Nemo!”

“Um, yes?” Nemo shrank back a bit under two piercing stares. If he had shoulders, they’d be hunched up around his ears. “How do you know my name?”

“We’ve been helping your dad look for you,” explained Sora. “He’s been so worried about you!”

Nemo’s eyes lit up. “Oh yeah! I heard about that from a pelican!” He looked around. “Where is my dad anyways? I don’t see him anywhere.”

Indeed, Marlin was nowhere to be seen. He’d disappeared into the murky water while they’d been distracted by Nemo’s arrival.

“He swam off when he thought you were dead!” Dory fretted.

“What?! Oh no, I was just playing dead!” Nemo flapped his fins in agitation. “We gotta find him!”

Sora set his jaw. “He can’t have gone that far! C’mon, we need to catch him!”

The three darted off in search of Marlin.

&&&

“Sora!”

“Donald! Goofy!”

Sora waved a fin, glad that he’d finally managed to find his friends. Marlin had reunited with Dory and Nemo, which should’ve been a touching scene except for—

“HELP!”

\--the stupid Heartless that popped up just in time to ruin everything!

“Hold on guys, I’ll save you!” Sora sped in between the fish Heartless, batting away any that got too close.

“What do we do? That thing’s got Dory and Nemo!” Marlin shouted. He looked terrified, yet hadn’t turned tail and fled when the Heartless appeared. The clownfish hustled after Sora, trying to keep the boss Heartless in sight. Smaller Heartless spawned from the boss, creating a living tide that continuously pushed them back.

“I dunno. We need to defeat that thing before it runs off with everyone in the net, but I can’t get close!” The Heartless looked like a cross between a whale, an anglerfish and a fish trawler. It had a striated purple underbelly, with numerous barnacle-like Heartless attached. These barnacle Heartless periodically fell off, exploding after a few bounces. Raggedy fins stirred the water at its side, allowing it to steer as propeller-like structures on its rear pushed it forward. Its unwieldy appearance belied a frightening amount of speed. Within seconds of spooling out a pulsating black net, it was gone, leaving a trail of lesser Heartless in its wake. Sora and Marlin had only just managed to catch up to it, but couldn’t seem to close the distance.

Sora growled. Trying to force their way through clearly wasn’t working, but he couldn’t think of any ideas. He glanced at Marlin, who swam with a fiercely determined expression. He’d come a long way since the start of their journey. Even faced with a seemingly unending hoard of monsters, the clownfish kept pressing onwards.

Still, determination alone wasn’t going to help them. They were going to get tired eventually while the Heartless could keep going forever. They had to catch up _now_ before they wore themselves out. Hmm, what could they use to their advantage? Sora peered about for anything that could be of use while dodging Heartless. Man, the barnacle Heartless were a pain in the rear. Their languid arcs through the water made it difficult to dodge. Sora was fairly sure that his tailfin had scorch marks on it.

Wait, the Heartless!

“Marlin!” Sora called, swimming closer to his friend. “I think I know how to get to the big Heartless!”

“Heartless? You mean that thing over there?” Marlin panted, breathing hard. “What are we waiting for? Let’s do it!”

“Okay, but you’re probably not going to like it!” Sora quickly darted away, grabbing onto the dorsal fin of a Heartless fish. It bucked, trying to throw him off. “Get on!” Marlin watched, his determined expression transforming into one of bewildered alarm, a look that Sora was sadly very familiar with. So what if his plans were spur-of-the-moment and “a risk to life-and-limb”? They usually worked!

“You are completely bonkers!” Marlin grabbed onto Sora’s fin and holding on tight. The angelfish pulled Marlin onto the thrashing Heartless, making sure that the clownfish had a firm grip on the dorsal fin behind him.

Sora laughed. “You’re not the first person to say that! Hee-yah!” He steered the Heartless fish toward a field of bouncing Heartless barnacles with a few painful smacks to the rear. “Hang on tight! It’s about to get bumpy!”

A look of dawning terror spread across Marlin’s face. “What are you doing?! We’re going to hit those things!” _Boing, boing, boing_…

“I know! That’s exactly what I’m going for!” Sora cackled.

“AaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!” The mottled shell of the Heartless barnacle filled Marlin’s vision.

“Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

_KA-BOOM!!!_

&&&

“KEEP! SWIMMING! KEEP! SWIMMING!” Dory screamed, pressed up against the net. “SWIM LIKE YOUR LIVES DEPEND ON IT!” She threw herself against the black material, her meager weight bolstered by that of the many other fish trapped with her. Occasionally, a fish would disappear from the net in a ball of darkness. Dory wasn’t sure where they went, but she had a very bad feeling about that.

Beside her, Nemo, Donald and Goofy pushed at the net as hard as they could. Donald had somehow managed to avoid puffing up despite being extremely agitated. Goofy’s had bent himself into a U-shape, trying his best to overcome the disadvantages of his pancake-like form.

“Do you think that it’s working?” Nemo grunted.

“I think so! I can feel a lot more turbulence,” Goofy answered.

“JKADHGJRTERLAHDGS!” Donald garbled in incoherent rage.

“You’re right, Donald! I think that we’re slowing down a bit!” Dory said.

All at once, a concussive force rocked the net, a dull _BOOM _muffled by the material of the net. The big Heartless bellowed in agony, halting in its tracks. The explosion was followed up by another, then another, and another.

“Eat that, ya big lug!”

“Dad!” Nemo gasped.

“Marlin!” Dory cheered.

Another series of explosions slammed into the Heartless. Donald and Goofy could just barely make out the sounds of Sora’s maniacal laughter. Donald quietly resolved to never, ever teach Sora the higher level Fire spells. Firaga was destructive enough without introducing the sheer power of the –ja spells or—Walt Disney forbid—_Zettaflare_.

“Hyuck, it’s Sora! They came to rescue us!” Goofy grinned broadly. “C’mon, fellas, let’s get back to pushin’!”

Donald slammed his spiky mass into the net. “Let’s go! PUT YOUR BACKS INTO IT!” The other fish quickly followed suit, stretching the net to its limit.

&&&

“Look, the net’s fraying!”

The tendrils of darkness connecting the net to the Heartless were thinning out, unable to take the continuous tension. Sora whacked another barnacle Heartless at the spot where the tendrils looked the weakest. The big Heartless keened, floundering in the water.

“We’re almost there! YOU CAN DO IT GUYS!”

&&&

At last, the ropey darkness snapped, releasing the fish trapped within the net. With one last sonorous cry, the whale Heartless disintegrated into shining particles, a glowing heart drifting into the sky. The freed fish cheered and danced in the water. Marlin made a beeline straight to Nemo.

“Oh, Nemo, you’re okay,” Marlin whispered, voice cracking. “I’m so sorry, it was my fault that you were caught up in all this—“

“What’re you talking about, Dad? It wasn’t your fault.” Nemo looked at his father, smiling. “That was _awesome_! Did you really blow up that giant fish?”

“Uh, kind of? It was really Sora’s idea.” Marlin gestured at the angelfish. Goofy was currently trying his level best to hug Sora, despite his lack of arms. Donald was in the middle of a full-blown rant, having finally inflated like a spiky balloon, with Dory egging him on. Unfortunately for him, Sora was too busy laughing at his funny shape to listen.

“Even if it was Sora’s idea, you still helped him instead of hiding. That’s really cool, Dad.” Nemo gently bopped his head against Marlin’s.

“Thanks, Nemo. Come on, let’s go home.” 

**Author's Note:**

> After-credit notes:  
\- Bruce and the other sharks are okay. A bit roughed up and very confused, but they survived  
\- Frank the crab is also alive. He barely escaped by the skin of his carapace  
\- Sora, Donald and Goofy eventually find the Gummi Ship (mostly) in one piece. Donald changes their shapes to something that has thumbs so that they can fix it up and get tf off the planet
> 
> Apologies for the lack of Gil and the Tank Crew. I couldn't think of a way to incorporate them since the KH crew wouldn't have any reason to be in a dentist's office after crash-landing from a candy-adjacent spaceship. 
> 
> Hope you had fun reading! Please leave a like and/or a comment. Thank you!


End file.
